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Cat in a Hot Tin Suit
"Cat in a Hot Tin Suit" is the 17th of 35 Darkwing Duck comic stories published in the Disney Adventures magazine. It follows on "The Kitty Kat Kaper" and precedes "Fluffy's Reign of Terror!" in the Fluffy Trilogy. Summary As promised when he was locked away in jail, Fluffy has escaped. In little time, he has made the abandoned King of the Sea canning factory his hideout and gathered his minions, who are regular cats, there. His trouble of old remains, though: none of his minions truly understand him beyond simple, straightforward tasks. At a meeting, he lays out his plans and instructs the other cats to raise their paw if they understand any part of it. A yellow cat, Al, is trying to catch a fly at that time, which Fluffy mistakes for him raising his paw. Elated to have at least one equal, Fluffy promotes Al to second-in-command. SHUSH is informed of Fluffy's escape and J. Gander Hooter contacts Darkwing Duck to tell him both of the mutant's escape and of his bothersome milkman that keeps leaving non-fat milk instead of low-fat milk. Darkwing and Launchpad immediately leave Darkwing Tower on the Ratcatcher. Shortly after, they intercept a police dispatch report warning for an unusual amount of cat activity at the Grocerama. They make their way to the store, where Darkwing is trampled by a large number of fleeing cats. Darkwing still does manage to capture one last cat running after the group. He finds the cat to be in the possession of two cans of tuna and the manager elaborates that the cats stole the store's entire stock. With no other lead, Darkwing takes the cat back to Darkwing Tower to interrogate them. It takes a while, but eventually Darkwing realizes that he can't interrogate a cat because cats can't talk. Meanwhile, Fluffy is ready to move on to the next part of his plan. While his minions enjoy the eatable part of their loot, Fluffy confiscates the cans to build himself a super-suit. The suit allows him to present himself and operate as a person, opposable thumbs included. It also comes with an amount of weaponry, but this is secondary to the easier access to packaged foods the suit provides. In fact, there's only two things standing between the moment and cat supremacy, namely that Fluffy first has to learn to walk with the super-suit and that there's two days of rain up ahead. Without anymore clues after the cat proved useless as a source of information, Darkwing can do nothing but wait. After two tense days, the forecast predicts a few hours of sunshine and he realizes that's when Fluffy will strike. He and Launchpad ride out during the afternoon to look for clues, which show up as Fluffy's minions holding up rhyming signs politely inviting the crimefighters to come to the St. Canard penitentiary. Not one to let a challenge like that go unanswered, Darkwing heads straight to the proposed battleground. As they leave the Ratcatcher to look around, it is blown up, greatly angering Darkwing. It is then Fluffy reveals himself and his new super-suit to the hero. While flying, he announces he won't aim to kill just yet, but instead will show off his new tricks, which is followed by Darkwing getting a dose of the suit's laser, rockets, punching glove, watergun. Before Fluffy can demonstrate his multi-tool hand, Darkwing's patience hits its limit and he challenges Fluffy to "come down and fight like a man". This, being regarded as a fellow person, pleases Fluffy greatly. He comes down for hand-to-hand combat. While Darkwing soon finds out that he can not hurt Fluffy through the armor, Fluffy realizes he neglected to add knuckles and has to take on the crimefighter by slapping and kicking him. Still, this is effective and Darkwing finds himself thrown into a dumpster. Launchpad, who had been an audience to the fight along with some of Flfuffy's minions, follows seconds after, landing on top of Darkwing. Realizing they underestimated their opponent, they make a tactical retreat to Duckburg. Fluffy rejoices in his victory and proclaims himself king of St. Canard. He forces the citizens into cat obedience and moves his headquarters to the best room Le Posh, the most luxurious hotel in the city, has to offer. Despite having accomplished all his goals, Fluffy has to admit he's still not happy. Understanding that the source of this is his loneliness, he turns to Al and vows to increase his I.Q. too so he'll have a proper companion. He gets to work on an intelligence-improving potion immediately. Meanwhile, Darkwing and Launchpad return to the city dressed up as cats to move around unnoticed. The suits are hot and uncomfortable and the duo is apprehended by a mob that feeds them fish and pets them. This latter event causes Darkwing to call an end to the dress-up tactic. They reach Fluffy's hotel room in their regular clothes just fine and just when Fluffy finishes the potion. They witness him chasing after Al, who refuses to drink the potion, and step in when Fluffy gives up. Darkwing confronts him first, Launchpad sneaks up to distract him, and then Darkwing uses the opening to take Fluffy's gloves from him. Distraught by the loss of his thumbs, Fluffy tries to fly away, but his rocket pack malfunctions. Darkwing grabs him by the cape before he falls to his death. Now captured, Fluffy's super-suit gets dismantled and its pieces are brought to the St. Canard Maximum Security Supervillain Prison along with the criminal. However, Darkwing does give Fluffy his gloves back, having noticed their importance to him. Touched, Fluffy agrees to serve out his sentence peacefully, spending most of his time playing video games. Cast Quotes : "Fluffy--that sick yet squeezable sociopath--has escaped!" :— Darkwing on Fluffy. : "I don't like it, Launchpad! This is supervillain weather!" : "Aw, we probably won't get the heavy stuff for at least a few pages!" :— Darkwing and Launchpad. : "Fortune smiles upon the doomed citizens of St. Canard! They have been granted a slight reprieve, while I learn how to walk!" :— Darkwing on Fluffy. : "What do you suppose our little pal is up to, hmm?" : "I think I'd rather find it out on the news!" :— Darkwing and Launchpad. : "You should know before we get started that I am the undisputed regional champion!" : "Boxing champion?!?" : "Well, no... tetherball! But I can still lick a little punk like you!" :— Darkwing and Fluffy. : "Forget these darn suits! What a dumb idea!" : "It was your idea!" : "Well, I guess it was worth a try!" :— Darkwing and Launchpad. : "Geez! Look at this set-up! The guy must think he's Doctor Dreadful!" : "Doctor Who??" : "No, Doctor Dreadful! Heh-heh!" : "I never get your jokes!" :— Darkwing and Launchpad. Notes References * The title "Cat in a Hot Tin Suit" is inspired by the 1955 play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. * Darkwing's line of "Now I've got you, my little kitty! And your little dog Toto, too!" is a reference to the 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its many adaptions. * Fluffy's line of "Today I am a man!!" comes from the Bar Mitzvah speech, wherein the candidate declares "Today, I am a man". * Darkwing's and Launchpad's conversation about Doctor Dreadful and Doctor Who plays on the existence of the 1963 television series Doctor Who. * Launchpad's line of "I am your father, Fluffy!!" is an adaption of the line "No. I am your father!", often remembered as "Luke, I am your father!", from the 1980 movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Milestones * This comic marks the first appearance of Al, King of the Sea, Le Posh, Fluffy's super-suit, and Darkwing's telephone. Errors * All the panels on page 7 to feature Darkwing's motor helmet depict it without the ears. * Darkwing and Launchpad are supposed to retreat to Duckburg, but this only is clear in the director's cut. * Fluffy guesses that Al is playing with "that stupid toy" again, but Al's never shown to have any toys. In the director's cut, he's depicted as entertaining himself with a toy mouse. Other * In 2011, when the [[Darkwing Duck (Boom! Studios)|Boom! Studios run of Darkwing Duck]] was ongoing, Doug Gray made blogposts about his experiences writing "The Kitty Kat Kaper" and "Cat in a Hot Tin Suit". These blogposts explain the errors and oddities in the comics and include both the comics as published and "director's cut" versions that contain missing pieces of dialogue and sketches of improved art.Darkwing Duck: "Cat in a Hot Tin Suit" at THE EYE OF MONGOMBLOGDarkwing Duck: "Cat in a Hot Tin Suit" revisited at THE EYE OF MONGOMBLOG * The hotel Fluffy moves his base of operations to is not named in the published comic, but is called Le Posh in the director's cut. References External links * Cat in a Hot Tin Suit at I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Category:Disney Adventures